Sip 'n' sniff: Aromatherapy cocktails at OM

Just when you thought you figured out what scents to detect in your vintage cabernet, along comes OM (57 John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge. 617-576-2800) with a collection of beverages that will have you sniffing your drinks all over again. OM — a nightclub/restaurant featuring global cuisine and Far East-inspired decor including Tibetan murals — has created an assortment of aromatherapy cocktails spiked with essential oils.

The drinks spotlight the same stuff often found in soaps and candles to arouse calm, compassion, and all those other states of being regulated by your chakras, but in this case the essences are enjoyably drinkable, thanks to bar manager Clif Travers’s bold, boundary-bending mixology. Travers measures out drops of essential oils to create what he calls ‘‘not-so-simple’’ syrups, in which the oils lose their slickness by binding to the sugar. Other oils he converts into spritzes by diluting them in warm vermouth. Each essential oil is used strategically to embellish familiar cocktails, but the trick is to create complementary flavors rather than dominant ones, he says, adding that ‘It’s OK to play with tradition without ruining it.’’

The result is an array of tempting curiosities like the RoseMaya ($12), which is topped with a spritz of rose essence to heighten the botanicals of Hendrick’s Gin and the tangle of cucumber shreds floating within. The Essential Martini ($11) involves organic vodka and woodsy jasmine — said to arouse confidence and self assurance — which also manages to accentuate the peatiness of the drink’s dash of scotch. Lavender, which aromatherapists say stimulates compassion and tranquility, harmonizes with the berry flavors in the Lavender Cosmo ($9). And energizing ginger essence gives an added kick to the lemon-tinged Champagne of the Fred and Ginger ($12) And you thought a cocktail was just to help you unwind.